Truth in the Elves
by LunarTranquility
Summary: Follow Alpea, a young night elf hunter, as she journeys across the lands of Azeroth to fight the plague of undeath that has spread across the world and defeat the entity known as the Lich King. Based on the MMORPG.
1. First Rites

**Chapter One**

"For ten thousand years, the immortal Night Elves cultivated a druidic society within the shadowed recesses of Ashenvale Forest. Then the catastrophic invasion of the Burning Legion shattered the tranquility of their ancient civilization. Led by the Arch-Druid Malfurion Stormrage and the priestess Tyrande Whisperwind, the mighty Night Elves rose to challenge the demonic onslaught. Aided by the newly arrived orcs and humans, the Night Elves succeeded in halting the Legion's advance and defeating its master, the demonlord Archimonde. Though victorious, the Night Elves were forced to sacrifice their cherished immortality and watch their beloved forests burn.

"In the aftermath of the horrific conflict, Malfurion and Tyrande helped their people rebuild their shattered villages. Slowly the Night Elves began to adjust to their mortal existence. Such an adjustment was far from easy, and there were many who could not adjust to the prospects of aging, disease and frailty. Seeking to regain their immortality, a number of wayward druids conspired to plant a special tree that would reestablish a link between their spirits and the eternal world. When Malfurion heard about this plan, he warned that nature would never bless such a selfish act. Shortly thereafter, Malfurion's spirit was somehow lost within the depths of the Emerald Dream. Though his fellow druids attempted to find his wandering spirit, only his body remained sleeping within his Barrow Den.

"With Malfurion missing, Fandral Staghelm – the leader of those who wished to plant the new World Tree – became the new Arch-Druid. In no time at all, he and his fellow druids had forged ahead and planted the great tree, Teldrassil, off the stormy coasts of northern Kalimdor. Under their care, the tree sprouted up above the clouds. Among the twilight boughs of the colossal tree, the wondrous city of Darnassus took root. However, the tree was not consecrated with nature's blessing and soon fell prey to the corruption of the Burning Legion. Now the wildlife and even the limbs of Teldrassil itself are tainted by a growing darkness.

"As one of the few Night Elves still left in the world, it is your sworn duty to defend Darnassus and the wild children of nature against the Legion's encroaching corruption."

Alpea listened to the druid's speech with half an ear, watching as the bonfire before her roared with life. All around her, in a semi-circle before the druid, others sat, listening to the history of their people and what they must do upon the completion of their beginner's training. But the speech was outdated; the Legion was long-since held at bay in Outland. The danger now was in the spread of the Scourge, the army of undead that a demon named Kil'jaeden created years before. One great city, Lordaeron, was one of those destroyed and taken by the undead. Prince Arthas, heir to the kingdom, was eventually taken under by the Scourge and was now one of their strongest players in the war, the Lich King. It was _he_ they needed to focus their efforts on, not the Legion.

Regardless, Alpea listened to the dated speech and bowed her head when it was finished, as was custom. "Now come," the druid told the group. "You shall be fit with the tattoos of our people, so that others will know of your accomplishment." He stood and beckoned them to follow; they complied and stood, following his lead. He led them to a lodge that was nestled into one of Teldrassil's great branches, and from there into a tunnel that led them down, 'underground', to a warm den. It was comfortable in here, dark except for the torches perched away from the wooden walls; Alpea loved how cozy it was, despite how cramped it was with so many initiates coming in. This was how their ancestors lived, nestled underground in warm, pitch-black dens, their white eyes glowing with the ability to see even in such dark places.

A man sat on a stool before them, the inking materials spread out on a small table near his knee. His dark green hair was cut short, tied back into a small ponytail at the base of his neck. His shoulders were wide with the training that only a paladin or warrior would go through, and he was tall; she assumed he had been initiated as a warrior, a powerful fighter; although warriors tended to be much more short and stocky, like a charging ram. A scar ran down the side of his neck, the end visible on the bare skin of his bicep; he had probably been badly injured and was unable to continue fighting against the Scourge and Horde, turning instead to the important job of marking night elf graduates with the symbols of their people. The druid instructed them to sit before the man, and they did. He gave them another speech about initiation rites before turning it over to the man on the stool. Alpea examined him as he called someone forward, a female by the name of Myrandes.

He had used green ink on her, expertly tattooing the delicate skin on and around her eyes. She was presented to them when he finished, a full-fledged soldier. "Night Elves of Darnassus, I give you our newest holy woman, Priestess Myrandes. May Elune bless you,"

"Elune bless you," they repeated to the tall girl before she stood, bowed and resumed her seat among them, so that they might be presented as equals.

He called her forward next, completing the rites of the females first. Alpea stood and gave him a slight, nervous nod as she sat down and pulled her white hair behind her long ears. The retired warrior advised her to close her eyes, and she did, forcing herself to relax as he began tattooing her eyes. It stung in some places, but he was more adept at the process than she had expected; she predicted there would be no bruising the next day, and maybe only slight swelling. She had chosen a purple butterfly-like pattern – pathetically girlish, she now realized – that he finished in a few minutes. She was given the same blessing and introduction as before –"Our newest hunter, the Ranger Alpea. May Elune bless you," – and sat back down while the others finished their inductions. There was another priest, three druids and two rogues. Once they were finished, the elder druid appeared before them once more.

"Tomorrow morning you will report back here, to Shadowglen, to begin your lives as adult night elves. Congratulations," he said to them once more before heading out, leading the way for them to return to their class huts.


	2. Job Hunting

**Chapter Two**

As ordered, Alpea arrived back at Shadowglen early the next morning. She needed to speak with her trainer before she could begin anything and the prospect made her heave a sigh; the only hunter trainer in Shadowglen was near the top balcony of Teldrassil's huge branch; the same branch that the main lodge was carved into. She looked up as she neared it and spotted the alcove her mentor would be in. A wide ramp wound its way around the branch and up to the top; Alpea followed it, running as close to the trunk as she could, for a drop from this ramp was high enough to severely cripple, if not kill, someone – even someone as strong and hardy as a night elf. So she followed the ramp, high into the boughs of the tree, until the alcove was suddenly there, her trainer waiting alongside a druid.

The run was long, but she did not breathe heavily and had no need to catch her breath when she greeted them, "Good morning, sirs. I'm ready for my first post,"

"Ah, good," her trainer said. A stack of papers lay on a desk beside him and he leafed through them quickly. She stared at him as he read through them; his tattoos matched his dark blue hair and came down his face as long, curved triangles that began at the corners of his eyes. His arms were strong with his years of using a bow, the shoulders well-muscled. Unlike most other trainers who had retired from their class, he was without any noticeable scars; a benefit of having a pet to fight alongside, so that you may stay farther away and not be injured. She hoped to be like that one day: strong and lean, with well-developed muscles and not a scratch on her.

"Here it is," he said. "This is a very easy job, Alpea. The forest around Shadowglen is too far populated with wild boars and young nightsabers. If you could just slay, let's say, ten of each, we'll call the deed done. There is a merchant down in the lodge – I don't recall her name, but she sells food and drink – is paying well for the animals' tusks and teeth. Speak with me again when you finish so that I can assign you a new job and give you your pay."

"Of course, Ranger. Thank you," She bowed her head to him and nodded to the druid as she left. Running down the ramp, she decided, would waste valuable time, so she decided to jump over the railing and onto a higher roof of the lodge below her. The fall wasn't as long as it would normally have been, but her knees still buckled on impact and the landing still managed to jar her bones. But she recovered quickly and leapt from the roof and onto the grass before heading north, where the wild forage was rich and plentiful and there was sure to be more animals there.

It didn't take her long to find any of the boars; they were just north of the lodge, and traveled in a scattered herd. She downed the ten quickly, her arrows hitting lungs and throats. She had been given a knapsack along with her bow and knife, and stored the tusks of the animals inside it. Unfortunately, she couldn't take any of the meat or skin with her because her bag was so small; it was a shame to let it go to waste, but at least the predators in the area would have some free meals.

The young tigers were a different story. She could only find them near the small lakes that littered the area and in the hills of the mountains, and even then their dark skins made them hard to spot in the forest. It took her nearly an entire day to be rid of them all and be on her way back. She collected the teeth though, as was suggested, so the payout would be worth the work. She did not have a training family to buy her clothes and food any longer, so anything that would make her some money was welcome. She would take up a quick course on skinning when she got back, she decided, and take a skinning knife with her when she went out again. And a bag to keep the skins in, of course.

The teeth and tusks did pay well, for their size; coupled with the money she had made for the slayings, she left the merchant with nearly four silver and left the man who taught how to skin and sold the knives with just over three silver. Her job now was to be rid of a camp of imps that had taken up residence on the western edge of the valley; they were harmless, not a real cause for alarm, but they were pests and were using the night elves' resources. Driving them out would be too tiresome, and no one really wanted to deal with them, so the task of getting rid of them fell to the new initiates. Pest control wasn't what she wanted to do to with her time, but it paid well – her trainer would give her twice as much as she made for slaying the young boars and tigers, plus whatever she managed to loot off of the little orange gremlins.

Alpea killed three camps, carrying each sprite's left thumb as proof, before the job became too boring and she headed back. The imps didn't have much to loot, either; she only managed about one silver and a few decent items of clothing. She could not use any of the attire she stole, but she could sell them to one of the merchants in the area. She was not given a lot of arrows when she left – not even three hundred, and she had used more than two-thirds of her supply – so she would have to buy more, and hopefully a few more bags.

"Excellent work," The hunter smiled, setting aside the thumbs she had collected. "Very nice work, Alpea. Now, as promised: your three silver," He pulled the coins out from a pouch on his belt and laid them in her hand, smiling still. "Unfortunately, the other jobs I had for you were able to be taken up by your fellow initiates. I'm sure someone downstairs will have some more jobs for you, but I don't have any that I'm willing to assign to you.

"However," He paused, looking passed her for a moment before turning back to her. "I think you've earned your keep, and I think you're ready to learn some new... tricks of the trade, I suppose."

Alpea's hand twitched in expectance. "Such as?"

"Such as how to find animals by their tracks, and the beginnings of how to use the natural magic that is gifted to a hunter." Alpea felt a grin spread across her face despite her efforts to keep it away. She'd heard about such talents by older, more experienced hunters. She didn't expect to be able to learn them so soon, though; least of all how to tell a beast by the tracks it made – a very fundamental ability for a hunter. "Would you like to wait until you've traveled more, or would you like to know them now?"

"Now," She waited until he stood and placed his index finger on the center of her forehead before she closed her eyes. He said something in their old tongue, a phrase she couldn't understand, before the memories and knowledge of the hunter magic was passed onto her. She remembered other rangers, older and far more powerful, hunting and slaying great beasts, their pets snarling alongside them and rushing into battle. She remembered the magic that she would eventually learn, being able to summon her pet to her from any stable, or being able to revive her pet from the dead, and all the magic that she would be able to charm her arrows with. And then the retired hunter's hand was gone and she opened her eyes.

"_Now_," he said, "Now, you are a hunter, Alpea. You are stronger, and you can use your energy – your mana – the way you were meant to; your arrows and bullets can be charmed to further injure your target after the initial hit." She could see it in her mind, the magic that would turn her projectiles a slight green, the Serpent Sting, the shot that would make her shot disappear on impact.

"Be advised though, Alpea, that using your charms will drain your magical energy. If you use enough of it you will not be able to charm any more until you rest and allow your mana to build up again."

"I understand," Alpea smiled. "Thank you,"


	3. With Pride

**Chapter Three**

She spent the next few days doing odd jobs around Shadowglen, slaying an infestation of spiders in a northern cave, collecting antivenin from said spiders, gathering vials of moonwell water for a druid. When she had finally collected enough coin – roughly fifteen silver – and there were less jobs to be done, she moved on to a village in the west, Dolanaar. It was a quick trip, hardly a few hours, but still dangerous going. There were huge sabers here, older and stronger than those she'd encountered before, and they wandered everywhere, occasionally crossing the road that led the way between the villages. There were others, too, demented humanoids that would readily kill on sight.

There were not many jobs to do in this village, so she moved on towards Darnassus. She stayed only long enough to learn how to cook and to obtain a hearthstone, a magic-infused stone that would return her to the village when she chose and only every so often. The road to Darnassus was much the same as the way to Dolanaar, with the huge cats and now bigger spiders wandering the roads. And it took nearly the same amount of time to get there, so that the always-full moon was already beginning to rise when she finally reached the city.

The entrance to the city was guarded all over by the sentinels and earthen peacekeepers, giants made of wood and moss that wandered the grounds and dealt with trespassers. The entrance itself was made entirely of concrete, little more than a huge wall, with a ramp that led into the city and served as a bridge between its two main sections, the Craftsman's and Tradesmen's terraces. The roof above the bridge was suspended by great pillars that helped to diminish entrance into the city.

Alpea walked the ramp boldly, afraid of being questioned or interrogated. But she was not met with questions or accusations, and after a time realized how foolish that had been; she clearly _looked_ like a member of the Alliance, and furthermore only a few would be able to enter the city from this side – druids maybe – and those that could looked nothing like a night elf.

The other side of the ramp-bridge was nearly all water, a lake with sections of concrete connecting the few islands of land (although to the ends of the bridge, where the entrances to the terraces were, it was land). Alpea turned right, towards the Craftsman's Terrace and continued there. That was where the innkeeper would be, so it was there that she would be able to replace her hearthstone with one that returned her to Darnassus.

"Would you happen to know where the local hunting trainer is, by any chance?" she asked innkeeper after her stone was exchanged.

"Of course," the female smiled. She raised her hand and pointed down the road. "Follow the road to the end, where it meets the grass. If you cross that lawn it will take you right to the saber handlers. There is a ramp there that leads into one of the branches. Our trainer and stable master are on the first rise." Alpea thanked her and followed her directions. The guild was easy to find, one of three in the area, in part because of the small pack of huge riding tigers at its base. She wanted dearly to buy one, but she was told simply, "You are not yet strong enough to handle one of these beasts. Speak to me again when you have gained enough knowledge of the world," and shooed away like an annoying fly. She left the couple of handlers to see the trainer.

"Hello, young hunter," he said when she greeted him. He spoke the same phrase in the old tongue before giving her the knowledge she had forgotten to learn on her way. The experience was nothing like her first episode of training. It was merely business now, although the memories of previous hunters were still shown to her; the charms known as the Concussive and Arcane Shots, one that would daze her enemies and another that would just harm them more than usual, as well as a magic known as the Hunter's Mark, an intuitive device that would serve mainly to help her track a target, letting her know its whereabouts even when she could not see it directly, but would also make any ranged attacks that much more potent against it.

The hunter nodded at her when he was finished. "You look to me like you're skilled enough to handle a beast and train it as your companion. You must see Dazalar in Dolanaar. He can put you on the path to earning a pet of your own." Alpea's heart seemed to sink and lift at the same time; she was finally wise enough to begin to have a beast of her own – but it was all the way back in Dolanaar, hours away. It would not be wise to travel the rode at night, so she would have to stay in the city until morning. "I am sorry you have come all this way, young hunter. You are welcome to stay at the inn for the night – or longer, of course," The hunter smiled. "Ishnu-alah, young hunter." _Good fortune to you, young hunter._

"Ishnu-alah,"

She left for Dolanaar first thing the next morning, running the whole way. She only ran into two others on the road, a pair of young elves coming back to Darnassus for trade or further training. The only others were the occasional sentinels that patrolled the area. She arrived back at the village not too long later – she thought, anyway – but it still took her a while to find the trainer she was looking for. She found him, along with two others, behind the inn, close to the edge of the forest. They were all smiles, so Alpea could not help but smile back, despite the edge of irritation that still gnawed at her.

She greeted the night elf and was welcomed with an equally hearty reception. The trainer smiled and quickly began a speech she thought he gave to every young-blood hunter. "As a hunter, Alpea, it is important to remember the responsibility you hold in your hands. Nature is not a power that can be bent to obey our desires; it is one that is to be respected and acknowledged as something stronger than your very existence.

"Alpea, you must prove your understanding of this before you will gain the ability to tame an animal to be your companion."

He paused a moment to take a few steps towards a trunk set beside the building, and opened it. From it, he pulled a bar of some sort and turned back to her, nodding earnestly. "Your first task is to take this taming rod. With it, you will be able to tame a webwood lurker. Tame it, and practice your skills as a hunter."

He passed it on to her, with a bit of good-natured laughter from the other hunters. She took it, nodded to him, and left for the forest.

So, he wanted her to face one of the lurkers and tame it. She could do that. _How?_ She wasn't even sure _how_ to use the taming rod he had given her. Was there a button of some sort that she should press and point it at the big green spiders? Was it powered by magic? She didn't know, but suspected the latter. She tested it out a few times on other creatures – small ones, deer and small owls that she could handle if they attacked. It did not work on any of them though, so she decided to skip to finding the spiders.

They were easy enough to find, as it happened. She ran into one not long later, rounding a big tree. Alpea pointed the rod at it as it turned away and she came out of her shadowmeld, and tried channeling the magic that allowed her to place her marks on enemies and do more damage to them with the various stings of her class. It was exhausting; her knees buckled and her arms ached as soon as she started. But it worked, and the spider came at her, teeth and feet clicking on rock and dirt as she channeled the magic into it. It hit her twice, surprisingly light blows for a creature as big as it was, before it calmed and the magic of the taming process finished its job.

_Food._ She would have to feed it to keep it from attacking her again. Well, he told her to practice her skills as a hunter. She would have to kill _something_ to feed the thing.

The lurker's appetite was insane; Alpea had to kill three tigers and four owls before it was full and satisfied enough for her to go back. But she could not hide a smile when she came out of the woods with the furry spider at her side and presented it to the trainers.

"Excellent, Alpea! You are quite a fast learner!" The elf beamed at her, his face split by a grin. The others left them for a moment, walking back into the inn while he continued to give her her lesson. He sat down beside the small fire the trainers had been standing around, the taming rod still at his side.

"The variance of nature is something that can be relied upon, Alpea," he told her. "It is predictable in the way that it never remains the same; it is always changing.

"The task I give you will help you to see and appreciate the vast differences of the creatures you may choose as your companion." He picked the rod back up and handed it back to her, knees cracking as he stood up. "Take this taming rod and use it to tame a nightsaber stalker, found to the south. Then you will begin to understand the similarities and differences of nature."

She did as she was told, carefully avoiding the spiders and larger sabers she eventually ran into. It was the same process as before, the taming and exhaustion, the hunting for the animal's meals. The tiger hit harder than the spider, though, and managed to wound her fairly well before the taming process was finished. She brought it back soon, after it was rightfully fed.

Again, she was greeted with a smile. "You have tamed two creatures that inhabit the land, now you must tame one that soars the skies. Use the rod to tame a stigrid screecher, found west of here. Practice your skills with this mighty owl by your side.

"When you return, I will bestow you with the skills you will need to tame an animal of your choosing to be your companion; this creature will face the challenges you face and gain experience alongside you. I will also show you how to call it and dismiss it as you wish."

_Finally_, Alpea thought but didn't say. She went out anyway and came back without wounds, for the owls were much calmer and did not hit as hard.

The other trainers were back around the fire when she returned, the sun high in the sky now, the owl at her side. The night elf smiled and took the rod from her to place it back in the trunk. "You have learned all I can teach you, Alpea. May I offer you a piece of advice: use discretion when choosing your first pet. Will you choose a creature of the land, of the water, or of the sky? Whatever it may be, without a doubt, your pet will be with you for quite some time." The process of passing on the magic was the same, except there were no memories of taming to come with it. It was exhilarating nonetheless, and Alpea had to catch her breath when he was done.

"Here you are, Alpea. Use your new skills with pride; you have earned them."


	4. Bonding

**Chapter Four**

_Use your new skills with pride; you have earned them._

Alpea could not help the warmth of pride that she felt, nor the wide grin that spread over her sharp face. But the old hunter was not done, and he held his hand up as she began to thank him, silencing her. "You now have the power to tame a pet, but you must also gain the skills to train it.

"Travel to Darnassus. There you must speak with Jocaste. She will give you the ability to train your new pet, so make haste."

Alpea nodded. "Of course. Elune-adore," she said. _Elune be with you._

"Elune-adore," He smiled back.

She was not upset to be going back to Darnassus. Now she could finally tame her own pet, something that would fight at her side and be with her until she decided she no longer wanted its companionship. But, regardless, she would not be traveling the world alone.

The pet trainer Jocaste was easy to find. Alpea explained why she was there to see her with a small smile, but was not greeted with the same good humor.

"A fledgling hunter, I see," the trainer said. "Yes, I can bestow upon you the skills you need to train and guide your pet. But remember, Alpea, always respect the balance and live in awe of nature around you. Now, go forth. We shall speak again, at a later date." And then she was given the magic and shooed away again. Nothing special, just the memories of how past hunters had learned to train their pets.

There was not much to do inside Darnassus besides memorizing its layout and where all the important buildings were. The only ones she was worried about now were the bank – on one of the central islands, set inside the tree – the auction house and the portal to the bottom of the tree, to Rut'theran Village. She took the portal and ran down the small hill, to the left pier that she knew led to the island's flight master. She spoke to the night elf there, standing beside three ebony hippogryphs, and arranged a flight across the Great Sea, to the small village of Auberdine. This flight – the flight _path_, actually, the path that connected the two villages – was free, because it was the only way besides boat to get across the ocean.

The ride was not as wonderful as she thought it would be; it was fast, yes, but the motion of the beast's wings beating unsettled her and if she hadn't been sitting before the wings she would have slid off because of the slant the creature flew at. But they made it to Auberdine in just a few minutes, landing at Darkshore's flight master. She spoke briefly to the female and gave her name, so that she would be able to use the female's hippogryphs to fly across the continent; she would need to connect with the other flight masters first, though, or she would not be able to fly to them.

She traded with one of the merchants in the village before she went to the pier to lighten her bags and make a little more money. The merchant glanced at her curiously as he inspected her offers. "You're heading to the boats?" he asked. "But at your rank, you should be here, working in Darkshore."

Alpea smiled, taking the coin he gave her for some old scraps of leather. "I know I should. But I want to go to the other initiate areas and get acquainted with the cities there."

"Ah," The merchant smiled. "A good strategy, if you would like the rewards they offer to those with good reputations in the city. Here, I'll take the boots and vest for two silver,"

"Deal," Alpea said, and left. She walked down the wooden pier, glancing down at the water occasionally. There were a few schools of fish and a wealth of crabs – crawlers, if she remembered right – below the surface, and every so often another young night elf would swim buy to hunt or catch fish. She passed a human, too, an older, far more experienced one, fishing off the dock near the intersection for the boats. A sign nearby posted onto which dock the boats to which city would stop and wait for passengers. The boat to Stormwind City was on the left dock, so she deigned to wait there.

The boat was there in a few minutes, one of the many that made rounds between the two docks. She stepped aboard as a small group of people left – not much older than herself – all riding the swift sabers that she would eventually be allowed to buy. The passage on boats was free, so she would not lose any money in traveling. It was the hippogryphs and gryphons that needed to be paid for, except the few instances in which travel was free. The boat did not wait long before leaving again, but the trip would take a while, until they reached the twist in the ocean, so Alpea decided to sleep. There were bunkers for the travelers to rest in, so she took one. There were three beds in the room; she took the one farthest from the door and laid down to sleep while the boat took off.

Stormwind Harbor was much bigger than she had expected; she could not see it's end even when she got off the boat. It was all hustle-bustle, workers and cavalrymen walking or hauling 2lumber to and fro. At least two ships were in the process of being built a few docks down, and cannons littered the area, ready to be fired at enemy ships or Horde invaders.

The lowest section of the harbor, where the ships came in to port, was the busiest of all. Then came the ramps and stairs that led up to the city, where travelers and guards alike traveled. One group of guards on foot walked in a circle up the lowest ramp, in a circle around a prisoner; Defias, the troublesome lot of rebels based to the south, she assumed. Alpea followed them, running to catch up in the hopes that they were heading towards the city. She had been made to memorize the layouts of all of the Alliance's main cities before her initiation, as well as the continents and the location of each region, each zone, therein. But the cities were confusing, and she wasn't sure of which way the actual entrance to the city was, from the harbor (from the tram and forest it was quite easy; there was only one road). So, following the guards that were escorting a prisoner would be the easiest way to get into the city.

In the end she didn't stay in the capital, instead asking a guard for directions to the eastern entrance. He escorted her to the trade district before suggesting she speak to the flight master in the gryphon roost and leaving. She did, and circled back into the trade district to go out of the main gate. From there it was just a short jog until she was in Elwynn Forest, and from there another short run to the place she was looking for, Northshire Valley.

She found him just inside the gate, scratching enthusiastically at an itchy spot just beneath his ear. She smiled and came up to scratch at the spot, earning a wagging tail and careful lick to the hand. He was small, she realized when she looked at the other young wolves in the area, and was still bleeding slightly where the plague had eaten away at his skin and fur and had not yet scarred over. She sat with him for most of the day, warning off the young humans who were interested in slaying him to deal with the pest control issue they were being told to handle, and rubbing off the dead skin that the wolf had not yet chewed off. When she was finished and had begun to turn back for Stormwind, the young wolf followed her, tail wagging in earnest.

It was then she realized _he_ would be her first pet, when he looked so much like an eager puppy, with his ruined nose and greasy, ragged fur. She tamed him then, using the magic that the trainer had passed onto her. It was not a surprise when the wolf bit her – nipped, really – or when he growled when the process was finally done. She had expected that, and knew that he would stay in a foul mood until she found some type of food for him.

She decided to rid Elwynn of a few kobolds – little rodent-like humanoids that had been infesting the mines – and loot whatever they had of value before letting her new wolf, Crone, as she named him, eat the remains. He was in a much better mood afterward, and even deigned to allow her to do odd jobs in the valley in order to extend her reputation with Stormwind's humans. The plagued wolves and kobold vermin infesting the valley were so weak that she didn't have to charm any arrows or send Crone to defend her if any came after her. Two well-placed arrows were enough to down any rabid wolves or particularly mean rodents.

Eventually she moved southwest towards Westfall, the proper area for her to be working at her rank. The only downside to the area that she could think of was that it was full of the Defias, the band of rebel humans that often attacked travelers and explorers alike.

Crone trotted beside her as she went about finding the flight master, gathering oats for an old and tired mule and helped in gradually killing off the human insurgents. She killed the boars and hostile vultures as they went, collecting what was of value and a few choice cuts of meat and nutritional organs, storing them in a bag she had found on one of the humans that was perfect for keeping food. She eventually traded most of it to a farmer that needed them for ingredients in a stew, but was too afraid of the Defias to go hunting for them. In return, the old woman gave her a copy of the recipe and taught her how to properly prepare it.

She grew stronger here. She could feel it in how she gradually grew less tired after the series of charmed shots and stings she fired. And her enemies fell faster, so that Crone merely had to nip them once or twice and she didn't need to use more than three arrows at a time. It was at that point, once she had finished her jobs, that she took a gryphon back to Stormwind to seek the city's hunter trainers.

The trainers themselves were in the back of the city, inside the Hunter Guild Hall, which in turn was inside the Dwarven District, close to the keep that help the city's king, Varian Wrynn. A guard gladly showed her the way, taking her through the canals and over the many bridges to get there. She thanked him as he left, standing just beside the stable master. The pudgy little dwarf nodded at her and pointed her chin at the building beside her, smiling all the while. Alpea nodded and smiled back before going inside, where three old hunters and a retired pet trainer stood chatting. A set of stairs led up at the back of the room, passed the row of bookcases, to where she assumed the fourth trainer was.

Alpea approached the dwarf closest to her, another female, and asked for the training she had missed in her last few ranks. The dwarf gladly gave her the knowledge. "Why aren't ye in one of them battlegrounds, dukin' it out with the Horde?" she asked.

Alpea frowned. "What do you mean, battleground?"

The dwarves laughed. "Are ye daft!" One of them shouted, "Everyone knows once ye get passed the tenth rank, ye can go fight them Horde invaders up in Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin, lass."

"Oh. Right," Alpea laughed and turned away. _Stupid,_ she admonished herself. She was told about those battlegrounds ages ago, when she was still a trainee. They were areas where the Horde and Alliance battled constantly – the Warsong Gulch in Ashenvale forest, for example – over resources or territory. Special sentinels that were stationed inside the cities were able to teleport fighters there, or they could just fly or walk there and join the fights.

She decided to find the sentinels of Warsong Gulch. If she was skilled enough to be able to fight against the Horde, then she would do it. She would start there, in the battle for Ashenvale, where all the rookies started. There should be sentinels in the gryphon roost, near the flight master.

Crone whined beside her, ears flattened and tail wagging. She smiled at him and pulled in front of her the bag at the small of her back. This was where she kept the meat and fish she managed to get for his food and her cooking, and she took out a big chunk of boar meat and tossed it over to him. The dark gray wolf caught it and ate it in a single gulp and looked back up at her, his ears still flat. "All right, all right," She laughed and pulled out a small rack of ribs she had taken from a vulture and handed it back to him. It took him longer to eat this, as he crunched the bones in his jaw and moaned quietly as he swallowed each rib. She waited outside the Hunter's Guild while he ate and only set off when he was done, a few smears of blood lining his muzzle.

They crossed the canals over bridges twice before they finally entered the trade district, where the roost was kept. She and Crone ran up the access ramp and the small walkway that led into the stone-walled hallway until they saw the two night elves and the Warsong banner, talking to each other quietly.

"Night elf," one of them called over to her. "Are you prepared to fight for the woods of Ashenvale forest?"

"Yes," Alpea squared her shoulders as the two sentinels nodded to her and began channeling the magic that would teleport her to the Alliance hold, at one end of the gulch.

"You know how these staged battles"- staged, meaning the battles were carefully watched over for the younger fighters, and organized so that the battles stayed inside the gulch –"how they work, right?"

"No," Alpea frowned and held onto Crone's neck ruff. One of the sentinels smiled at her.

"Warsong, like so many others, is an hourly battle, my friend. We keep it controlled so as to hold off further war. This battleground is a simple capture-the-flag fight. Whomever wins – either by capturing the flag three times, or being the team with the most captures when your time for fighting expires – will have control of the area until the next battle begins. If neither Horde nor Alliance captures a flag, the battle is naught and neither side may have control of the gulch's resources. Good luck,"

And she was gone.


	5. Off To War

**Chapter Five**

It was not as she expected.

The battle had not yet started when she and Crone were sent to the fighting grounds, so they were teleported into the Alliance flag room. It was all polished blue stone, with walls that supported no roof. Behind her, at the far wall, was the flag post, and a smaller room beside it in which combatants could hide and ambush enemies after their flag. _That_ room did have a roof, and it supported a low ledge, another hiding spot for ambushes. In front of her were two hallways; one, a normal stone hallway to the right, that would lead to the graveyard and a small cliff that led to midfield; the other, on the left, was a tunnel that led down into the hillside and came out below, directly into the midfield. That was the tunnel she would take, Alpea decided; it was quicker, and there was no chance of injury from falling off that short cliff. She headed that way and stopped at the beginning of the tunnel, where the barred gate stopped her from going any further.

"All right, here's the plan," someone yelled near the flag. The others – paladins, shamans, priests, druids and mages – began to buff everyone, using their magic to make their fellows stronger or faster, or charming them so that their energy would not drain as quickly. The one who yelled was one of them – a paladin – and came by to charm her with a spell, the Devotion Aura, that would strengthen her armor so she would not be harmed as much when she was hit. He continued, "We stay in two groups, with someone to heal others in each. Let those with more experience – that means those ranks seventeen and up – go for the flag, and only rogues and druids. If someone holding the flag is being attacked, help them and kill the attacker.

"Another group will stay here to defend our flag. Same deal as the offensive; those that can heal, heal; if someone is going for or has the flag, you kill them. Stop them, slow them down, do whatever you can. Keep an eye on the ledge, because we all know someone will sneak onto it and wait for an opportunity to go for the flag." He paused. "Now, who will be on offense?"

Others began to call out where they would be. Alpea noticed that more were staying to defend, and they were mostly the younger ones in the group. The paladin that gave them their plan of attack decided to go on the offense – "To heal _and_ fight" – along with three others. The other six of them decided to play defense, with half of them going onto the "roof" (it's edge stopped above the flag room, so that there was no ceiling) to watch for enemies and ambush. Alpea stepped back from the gate when it eventually lifted to begin the battle; she would stay do defend.

"I'll track them and let you know when they're coming in," she offered. The dwarven hunter she had spoken to had given her the knowledge of how to use her magic to track humanoids from far away, without ever seeing them. She did not need her eyes open to do it; she could be blind and still see them, seeing the land in her mind's eye and the humanoids or beasts in the area.

The battle began, and the fighters going for the flag left at a run, choosing to head towards the graveyard. She patted Crone and put him on the aggressive, rather than defensive. He could sense them before her, so now he would not just attack those that attacked her; if he sensed an enemy in the area, he would attack it immediately. If it was weak enough he would not need help in killing it, but if not, and if it did not fight him back, he would lead it into the flag room, where the defenders would attack it.

"Who is healing?" a mage asked. Alpea noticed that no one was telling them to be quiet, should the Horde hear them; she had expected that _someone_ would not know that the Horde and Alliance could not understand each other's languages. But no one spoke up about, so she shrugged it off.

She was not paying attention when Crone began growling and took off suddenly into the tunnel. She followed – but she didn't see anything coming in.

"Rogue, incoming!" She yelled and put her Hunter's Mark on it so that the others could see it. It came out of its stealth when Crone bit it, so she began firing, shooting it with her Serpent Sting and Arcane and Concussive Shots as the other two in the room went after it. The mage used a frost spell on the troll, so that it could not move as fast and could not get to their flag. It was in it's eighteenth rank, but they managed to kill it before it reached the flag post.

They had a few moments of downtime before she saw two more coming in from the road on the hill, which would lead them to the upper level and onto the ledge. "We have two more coming in," she advised. "It looks like a warrior and shaman. Both tauren,"

Crone attacked them, stalling the shaman as it came onto the ledge. The three on the roof jumped down and converged on the spiritualist, all the better to kill the healer first. Alpea, the mage and another paladin went after the warrior, only two ranks ahead of her. The cow managed to grab the flag and run back into the tunnel before they stopped and killed her. Their group's healer, a priest, helped them recover from the fight. Alpea tossed her wolf another chunk of meat and sat down, exhausted.

A druid ran in suddenly in their cat form, carrying a red flag on her back. She transformed back into a night elf and placed the flag at the Alliance's base, sounding a trumpet in the flag rooms. And then she was gone, running in a circle back to the Horde flag.

It stayed calm for another few minutes before Alpea saw the next wave of Horde. She warned them of the three when Crone went growling after them, and set an explosive trap near the flag just as they came in through the tunnel and the other three defenders jumped down to help. They were all strong; not one was under seventeen. Alpea placed her Hunter's Mark on one, a paladin, and shot it with an Arcane Shot –

- when a rogue came out of stealth behind her and backstabbed her. The shock of it made Alpea drop her bow; she turned around to face the orc and kicked the it back, drawing a dagger from her hip. She missed each time she tried to wound him – hunters are naturally... _bad_ in close combat – and turned instead to trying to block him long enough for someone to notice she needed help. But a quick glance showed that was a worthless hope; two of the attackers were engaged in combat with three defenders, while Crone and the other two chased a druid that had managed to grab the flag and run off. But even so, the rogue moved so fast that she could not block everything, and it wasn't long until she felt herself slipping, felt the poison on the rogue's daggers taking affect.

A warrior eventually came to her aid, giving up chasing the druid. She was stronger than the rogue and killed him quickly before moving on to help the others, so Alpea called Crone to defend her. But she was still bleeding heavily, and there was still poison in her veins, and she had no potions, no spells that could heal her.


	6. The Enemy of My Enemy

**Chapter Six**

She had been warned that she would eventually be killed.

She hadn't thought it would hurt, for some reason, but it did. Just a bit.

It was sort of like falling asleep after an exhaustive exercise; she grew more tired by the moment and eventually her mind and eyes clouded with a darkness that would not lift. When she finally became aware of her surroundings again, she felt like it had been hours, if not a solid day; but she doubted it had really been that long.

The world looked like a mixture of blue and gray, and it was hard to see the others that were milling about the area. There was no sound, either, save for the light whispering of the dead; she could see people jumping down from the small cliff and onto the grass and rocks below, but she could hear no thud when they landed. Alpea looked up, out of curiosity. The sky was gray – actually _gray_ – not with clouds, but with the lack of color, and it swirled up into a vortex.

In front of her was the spirit healer she had been told about. She appeared as a human female, her body scarcely covered in a white cloth, large wings holding her aloft. She did not speak, only drifted above the ground at the edge of the graveyard, blind to the living and dead around her. Alpea waited, listening to the quiet whispering. It was only a few moments until the healer revived her, suddenly bringing her back amidst the living, in the middle of the graveyard.

It was just as her teachers had described; she was not tired, nor was she still hurting. There were no wounds now, no poison in her system; this was a new body, the same form as the one she was borne in, but renewed, without any damage. It would not be so if she left the graveyard to join her original body; it would be weaker, recovering from the sudden loss of its spirit, and fragile.

Movement to her right caught her eye, and she looked over. The rogue that had killed her was coming out of the flag room, through the tunnel. She glared at the orc and jumped down from the ledge, hurting her ankles when she landed on a rock below, and ran after him. Her bow was with her again, even though she had not died with it in her hands; she brought it off from her back and raised it to place her fingers between her lips and whistle, all the while putting a Hunter's Mark over the rogue's head. Crone appeared at her side, her summons bringing him. The orc looked around and eventually found her.

She fired a Concussive Shot at him and he slowed. Crone bolted, sprinting after him, howling. She continued to fire until her energy ran low and she had to stop to fire normal arrows.

The paladin that had come up with their game plan noticed them from midfield and came over to help. They eventually took the orc down, with the paladin distracting it – healing himself whenever needed, stalling and fighting otherwise – until she had regained her full energy. By then he had stopped fighting the rogue and began running in her direction. Alpea continued firing – Concussive Shot, Serpent Sting, Arcane Shot – as the rogue ran after him, Crone trailing the way. Eventually the paladin turned around to fight again – not far from her, just close enough that she could still shoot and not use her small dagger – and they killed him. The draenei knelt by the rogue's corpse and stole a coin from his pocket before coming back over to her.

"Thank you for the help,"

"No problem," He smiled and gestured over to the tunnel-entrance of their hold. She started in that direction, holding the ruff of Crone's neck while their battle leader followed. "I'm Lursune, by the way,"

"Alpea," she said and smiled.

The flag room looked empty when they came in, but a dwarf – a priest – soon came out of the smaller room and healed her quickly before retreating again.

"The flag is gone," Lursune said. She looked over at the post and, sure enough, there was no blue flag there. She guessed the druid they were chasing earlier had managed to take off with it.

There were five others in that smaller room, four of them defenders, guarding the druid from earlier that had gotten the Horde's flag and was now waiting until they got their own back. Alpea and Lursune stayed outside; someone would eventually come to get the other side's flag back. They would try to make them think it was just the two of them, with the rest of their team out on the field.

They sat like that for a while. Alpea sat down, Crone laying down across her lap. "Maybe we should rush them?" someone suggested. "You know, everyone go after their flag carrier at once? Maybe we could take ours, so he's not left alone,"

"That's not a bad idea," Lursune said. "We can meet up with the other three, make sure our flag carrier is protected, and rush their side. Are there any hunters over there?"

"No," the dwarf said. "No hunters besides the night elf over there."

"I don't think we should rush them," one of the druids said. "If we do, it would be a one-on-one fight for everyone. We don't have enough high-ranked people that could take on more than one person. Besides, we'd be in _their_ hold. They would have the advantage,"

"They haven't actually captured a flag yet. I say we stick it out here and wait; if they rush us here, we can handle it. There's always going to be a few that don't actually come to the flag room. We can handle those that do."

She liked that idea better. It was safer, and seemed like the easiest way to get control of the area. "I agree," Alpea said. Others voiced their opinions until two people began fighting over the strategies. They opted to stay put until they all agreed on what they should do.

"Incoming," Alpea warned. "Coming into the tunnel. There's four of them." She shrugged Crone off her lap and stood to go into the smaller room, alongside the paladin. They could see the tunnel through a frosted one-way window in the room. Alpea loaded her bow while the others prepared to fight, watching the small team's progress into the room. They would know they were in here, if anyone bothered to look at their maps.

It was a quick slaughter.


	7. Riding Lessons

**Chapter Seven**

By the time Alpea reached her twentieth rank she was spending nearly all her time in the Warsong Gulch. They won her first battle but, as she soon found out, that was not usually the case; more often than not the Horde rushed their flag holders and managed to capture all three flags.

She did jobs in between, of course, when there was already a battle going on, and trained each time she gained a new rank in experience. Those jobs, by that time, had earned her nearly twenty-three gold. She had run into Lursune the paladin a few times, also, and on more than one occasion had teamed up with him when they were working the same jobs, or when one of them needed help.

He found her one day in the town of Darkshire, a dreary little place in the eastern part of Duskwood. The jobs here made great money – some as much as 70 silver per – and there was plenty of meat to be had for Crone. But the whole zone was creepy, haunted by ghouls and trivial Scourge, and infested with rabid, starving wolves and giant spiders. Most of the jobs involved clearing the zone of the infesting undead and small clans of worgen that had settled down close to Darkshire.

Lursune found her as she was turning in proof of her deeds, astride a deep-blue Elekk, the elephant-like animal his people had tamed to be mounts. Crone did not like it – he growled and circled the creature – but recognized the draenei from before, and so did not attack.

"Hey, Alpea," Lursune said and waved.

Alpea smiled back before turning back to the townsman in front of her and handing over her proof. "Hey," she said back. The townsman nodded at the pieces of bone and dropped a handful of silver coins into her palm. She put them in a pocket of her pack – one of three - that she kept for silver coins. Then she turned back to Lursune.

"Why are you walking?" He asked her. "You're ranked high enough, shouldn't you have bought your mount by now?"

Alpea shrugged. "I like the walking. And besides, I haven't had time to get back to Darnassus and buy one yet."

"Well that's easy enough," He laughed. "Why don't you just ask a mage to port you there? Most usually ask for a few gold, but for someone as young as us they would probably teleport you for free. And besides, from there you can work on Kalimdor. That's where most of your people are, you know."

Again, she shrugged, gesturing for Crone to come to her side while she walked towards the flight master on the southern hill. Lursune followed, his Elekk walking slowly beside her.

She _did_ want to get her mount, but she would have to stay over there overnight, at the least, and Darnassus was so _boring_.

"Ashenvale is about right for our rank," the paladin continued, "And there are plenty of giant spiders and deer to feed Crone. That's where Warsong Gulch is, too,"

"All right," Alpea sighed. "Just let me finish up these jobs, and then we can go." She paused a moment, shifting her weight to each of her legs, measuring the weight of her bags, until she realized: "My hearthstone is still set for Darnassus. Where does yours go?"

The paladin thought for a moment. "I think mine still goes to Auberdine," He turned in his seat to check, pulling the hearthstone out from his bag and inspecting the blue spiral on it's face. "Yeah, it still goes to Auberdine." He put the white stone back in his bag and looked down at her. "Tell you what, you hearth to Darnassus and get your Nightsaber. I'll meet you back at the docks at Auberdine, and then we can head to Ashenvale."

"All right. I'll meet you there, then," She pulled her hearthstone out of her pack and activated it, channeling the stone's energy, at the same time Lursune left to turn a job in. It took roughly ten seconds, if she remembered right, until she was teleported to the inn inside the walls of Darnassus. It took a moment for Crone to catch up, but by then she was already running in the direction of the Cenarion Enclave. Crone ran as soon as he was able, and had caught up to her in no time.

The saber handler did not recognize her – surely she met too many people each day, looking to buy the white and indigo tigers – but Alpea recognized her and the male trainer that stood among the massive cats. She went to him first – a mount was useless if you didn't know how to control it – and bought the training she needed. Immediately after, she turned and went to the female night elf.

"I am of a rank to handle one of your sabers," Alpea told the merchant, as boldly as she could. "I would like to purchase one."

"Of course," The handler smiled at her and waved an arm toward the dozing tigers. "They are one gold each, and you may pick your own. For now I have for you striped and spotted frostsabers and nightsabers. When you reach your fortieth rank, you can purchase the swifter tigers; those sabers, however, will cost you five gold each. But," the female paused, smiling mockingly, "I am sure that will be no problem for you once you become so powerful."

Alpea glared at her and fished a gold coin out from her pack. She handed it over to her. "Of course. I would like to buy a striped frostsaber, if you don't mind.

The night elf female took the coin, dropping the false smile as she did so. Her hand made that sweep again, motioning her toward the group of snoozing sabers. Alpea went, walking among them quietly, her passage waking some of them. She circled them until one saber in particular caught her attention, stretching itself awake. It did not growl when she approached it, so she carefully pet it. She waited a moment to be sure it would not attack her, and swung on its back.

It was as she expected. The saber sprung forward – Alpea was so surprised she had to clutch at the creature's shoulders to hang on – and ran, back towards the forests of Teldrassil before she clutched her thigh into its belly and guided it back to the portal that led them to Rut'heran Village. The tiger ran into the portal's pink mist without hesitating, landing clear in the middle of the path on the other side. She guided it to the docks on the far side of the village. A single boat made a continuous trip between there and the docks of Auberdine; she would not usually take it, but she did not wish to dismount her tiger yet just to ride the hippogryph across the water.

It was only when she was waiting on the boat that Alpea noticed Crone was not following her. She frowned; had she accidentally dismissed him, when she hearthed? No, he had been following her when she made her way toward the sabers. Out of curiosity, she reluctantly slid off the big tiger's back and walked inside the galley. No, he was not in here. Maybe out on the upper deck. Alpea turned to go outside, and-

Crone! He was behind her, tail wagging happily. Alpea bent down to grab hold of his face and pet him and was greeted with a delighted puppy-kiss. She stood and pet him on the top of his head again and walked outside to mount the saber again as the boat pulled forward. She glanced back down at Crone – and he began to disappear. She jumped off the saber again, and as she did so he came back.

_So,_ Alpea realized, _He will not stay if I am mounted._ She nodded to herself and jumped back onto the saber's back, ignoring Crone as he dismissed himself. She would miss him when she was riding, but it was for the best; he could not run enough to keep up with the tiger, even if it did not go as fast as others, and he would most likely leave her after long.

The boat ride was fairly short, and before long she was guiding the running tiger down the dock. She could not see the paladin inside, so she went instead to the other side of the inn, the one that led to the forest. But a fisherman down on the short caught her attention before she reached him, and she stopped.

"Can I help you?" Alpea asked.

"Oh, yes," the old man smiled, introducing himself as a man of the Blump family. "Do you know how to fish?"

Alpea frowned. "No, I do not."

The old man smiled even more and stood to shake her hand. "Well, then! I've got a deal for you. You see, young hunter, I am too old to be fighting the fish so far off shore. But I need to get some of those lesser oily blackmouths in the water, there. They're everywhere, but it is too much walking for an old man like me." He handed her his fishing pole. "So, tell you what: you catch me a good batch of those fish, and I'll trade you one of my family's classic fishing poles – _and_ I'll teach you how to properly fish."

Alpea smiled. Fishing would be wise to learn; it would provide food for both she and her pet, if she ever tamed one that ate fish. She agreed and took the pole from the old man's hands. Lursune found her as she was walking back on the dock, Crone by her side, to where she had seen a school of the fish.

"Alpea, what are you doing? I thought we were going to Ashenvale,"

"We are," She cast a line out into the water, pulling it back toward the group of fish. She had a bag at her feet that the old man had given her to put the fish in. "But I need to know how to fish, and the man on the shore agreed to teach me if I catch him the fish he can't reach."

Lursune smiled, sliding off his great Elekk. He pulled a contractible fishing pole from his bag and cast it into the water. "I learned how to fish ages ago." He laughed, tugging on the reel when it jumped. Alpea stuck her tongue out at him and laughed. "After I woke up from the crash and was experienced enough to move towards the city, I went to Azuremyst to look for more jobs. There was a fishing trainer on the way there; she said she would teach me if I netted some fish that the local murlocs kept stealing. So I said, 'Sure,' and she trained me."

Alpea shrugged. "There was a fishing trainer at the docks in Rut'heran Village, when I was done with my business on Teldrassil. But I never stopped to ask what I could do to learn how to fish. It didn't seem important back then." She smiled. "I suppose I could have learned how to fish in Goldshire, too,"

Lursune laughed at her and cast his line back into the water. They waited, fishing together, until Alpea had caught enough of the fish to trade with the old man. When she was finally finished, Lursune summoned his great Elekk again and rode to the old man. Alpea did the same and climbed atop her saber. When she was done, the old man gave her one of his famous Blump Family fishing poles, and she could fish successfully. And then they were off, riding south through the bear- and tiger-littered forest toward the elven zone of Ashenvale.

The area was littered with stags, wolves and deer; while they traveled, Alpea took down as many deer as she could, harvesting their leather and meat for Crone. She was not skilled at leatherworking, but the hides themselves would make her a fortune when she traded them in. They eventually found their way to the small village of Astranaar – more of a trading post than a village, really – and worked for a time, joining battlegrounds as often as they could. Alpea learned that the Warsong Gulch was not her only choice, now; she now had the option of fighting in the Arathi Basin, a mineral-rich battleground that was constantly being battled for. The rules were the same as ever, but, Lursune told her, the Horde almost always had control. They were very strategic here, and she learned that very soon – but it was much more fun to fight here. There were areas to fight for – the mine, the lumber mill, farm, stables, blacksmith – and controlling them was key to winning. If one side controlled all five areas, they were almost guaranteed a win.

Alpea preferred to fight for the mine, whereas Lursune preferred the blacksmith, the center of the battlefield and the heart of every fight. It was fun fighting there, but mobs of enemies often converged on it. From the mine, Alpea could gain high ground and keep an eye out for anyone coming to claim it, and there were plenty of places for her to hide and shadowmeld so that her team could ambush anyone coming in.

_I am queen of this mine,_ Alpea thought, killing a troll shaman that had run away after its failed attempt to steal the quarry. She _was_ queen here; only rarely was she seriously injured while fighting here, and the teammates that stayed with her almost always survived. She was a great leader – communication and encouragement were her keys in leading a team fight – and those fighting alongside her always listened to her strategies, were always there to back her up if she was cornered and had to resort to hand-to-hand combat. Crone was hard to hide, she soon learned, but she quickly came up with a strategy: dismiss him when there were no enemies around and meld into the shadows and wait, preferably while someone stronger – a paladin or a warrior – circled the mine's flag to discourage any incoming fighters. It was an excellent plan, and she was able to summon Crone back in an instant with her whistle and ambush any threats.

It was during one such battle that she and Lursune had partnered in, waiting for the next assault on the mine, that she learned something that would change forever how she passed through the ranks of soldiers.

"Hey, when this is over," said the paladin, "I need to go to the Scarlet Monastery, take care of a couple jobs there. You want to go? We could split the cash,"

Alpea frowned, kicking her legs as she sat on the roof of the mine's entrance. "What's the Scarlet Monastery?"

Lursune laughed a moment, thinking it a joke, until he saw the serious look on her face and stopped. "You're not kidding. You've never been to the Scarlet Monastery?"

"No."

"Oh." The draenei stood from where he sat and stretched before turning to face her completely. "Well, it's a dungeon-"

"What's a dungeon?" Alpea laughed at herself for her stupidity. She knew what a dungeon was – the prison type, at least – but it didn't sound like that was what the hooved warrior was talking about.

Lursune stared at her. Finally, he gave a short laugh. "Well, it's... It's like a hiding place for the big guys. You know the Defias, right? Well, their leader is in a dungeon; I've fought him myself. Anyway, it's where a lot of strong people hide. You need to go in a group for a lot of them, unless you're a helluva lot strong than them. They're usually filled with tougher cronies that guard the chief; you need to get through them to kill the big guy. The Stormwind Stockade is considered a dungeon, actually; there's not one big guy there, but three or four, I think.

"Anyway, the Scarlet Monastery is a dungeon, full of human mages. I don't remember what they're called; the Scarlet something. Anyway, they're about our rank, and I got a job to clear out one of the Monastery's wings. It's good money, and some new armor, and then you can steal whatever you want from whoever you take out. I need a group to go with, though. So, do you want to go?"

Alpea still frowned. But she shrugged and nodded nonetheless. "Sure, I guess. You're going to have to show me what to do, though." She laughed. "Where is it?"

"It's in Tirisfal somewhere," Lursune sighed and turned as she warned him of a blood elf coming in from the stables. It came in riding one of its race's mounts, an oddly colored ostrich-thing, but turned around and ran back when it saw them. "But anyway," he continued, "We can get teleported there once we have three other people. I can tank the place, so we'll need someone to heal us, and a couple more people to help kill the guys. If we get them, we'll be fine."

"Okay." Alpea smiled now. "Let's look for people as soon as we're done here; shouldn't be too hard to find more people to do damage. Hardest part is finding a healer. We've got three incoming from the farm. And there's another one looking at us from on top the cliffs," Alpea loaded her bow and sent Crone after them while Lursune began buffing them both. Those coming in were the shaman from earlier, a mage and a warrior. They should be able to take them out, so long as they took out the shaman first so it couldn't heal the others. Lursune could heal the two of them; she'd seen that in her first fight.

_Here we go,_ Alpea thought, _The fun finally begins._


	8. Ghosts in the Graveyard

**Chapter Eight**

Alpea could not remember ever being in such a big church.

It was a beautiful place, even if it was a dungeon. The walls were all marvelously bricked, the floors all tiled, torches lining the walls. Lursune told her this was an easy part of the monastery, the section that led them to the cemetery. He said there was something he needed to collect from the ghosts in the actual graveyard, and that one in particular had to be dealt with inside the mausoleum. He explained to her what he needed to collect, so that she would know and be able to turn them in for the same bounty.

She didn't know the rest of the group, and neither did Lursune. Their healer was a human priest, and the other two doing damage were a night elf rogue and a human mage. They were all friendly enough, albeit very quiet. But Lursune was right: it _was_ an easy place, and they managed to clear the few hallways in less than twenty minutes, even with one of the their bosses hiding inside. When they finally made it outside, Alpea's heart almost sank. The graveyard was full – absolutely full – of ghouls. Most of them were normal, at least, but there were still dozens of them roaming about, and Alpea guessed at least ten of the elites. Most of them were on either side of the concrete path that led to the mausoleum, but a few wandered, crossing the lane occasionally. Lursune turned back to the group at the edge of the hall.

"Do you guys want to skip all these guys, or just clear the place out? Me and Alpea need to kill a few for a job,"

"I'm fine with clearing the entire place," the healer said, "But you're the tank, you decide."

"More kills mean more experience, and more ranks," one of the others said. Alpea agreed, and shrugged.

"All right then. We're clearing the place out."

And so they did, going from left to right and back again, slowly heading towards the mausoleum at the end, killing every ghost and undead that they came across. It hardly took them any time at all to collect what they needed. It took longer than she had expected, though – certainly longer than the halls had. And then another twenty minutes, at least, before they could go underground and search out the boss they needed to find for the second part of Lursune's bounty. It was boring after they left the courtyard; Alpea couldn't even remember how they killed the black ghoul once he was dead.

She hadn't been thinking about it, but she was at her thirty-first rank by the time they finished the dungeon. Lursune showed her where to turn in the bounties they had collected, so she made some great money, not counting what they managed to loot inside the monastery.

"We should head to Stranglethorn Vale now," Lursune said later, as they sat in Goldshire, waiting for the battlegrounds to open up again.

Alpea groaned. "I'm tired. And besides, Stranglethorn is too far away and I don't have the flight path there."

"Neither do I," Lursune said, shrugging. "But we need to get there. It's good money... although it _is_ a little dangerous."

"Let's just stay here for a while." She pet Crone, growing more impatient as she waited.

Lursune was quiet for a few minutes while they sat. Finally, he asked, "Alpea, you don't have a guild yet, do you?"

Alpea frowned. "No, I never bothered to ask for an invitation into one. Why?"

The paladin shrugged, the plates of his armor clinking together. "I quit mine a while ago, and I was thinking of getting back into one. I didn't think you were in one, so I was wondering if you wanted to find a guild together."

"Of course," Alpea smiled. She stood, Crone jumping lightly to his feet. Lursune followed her, confused. "I'll bet there are some people in Stormwind looking for new guild recruits."

"Oh," The confusion cleared and the paladin summoned his mount. Alpea did the same, frowning while she watched Crone disappear; she still didn't like that. Lursune turned his elekk toward the road to Stormwind and smiled. "We'll see who's hiring and then head to Stranglethorn."

Alpea agreed and kicked her tiger's flanks, racing Lursune toward the city.

They found a big guild in Stormwind that was accepting new members. They called themselves Fusiform and, from what Alpea knew of their people, were incredibly nice and helpful. They found three people in the guild that were close to their level and agreed to go with them on some dungeon runs. They ran through all the sections of the Scarlet Monastery – there was at least three; Alpea lost count – and then through the Stormwind Stockade before they stopped. Most of Alpea's armor was old and hardly did her any good, so the group let her have the armor they looted. It was incredibly helpful; she felt stronger as soon as she put it on, and the evidence of that was clear in her jobs.

She and Lursune went to the jungle known as Stranglethorn Vale as soon as they had both trained. Alpea hated it; it was too warm here for her. Her shirt and pants clung to her skin whenever she walked or moved her arms. Crone felt it, too, she knew; he was panting more than usual, and his legs could not carry him as fast as usual when he ran. But he was still devotedly loyal to her and did whatever she asked of him. Lursune needed to find someone in the middle of the jungle, so they split up for a time; he was much stronger than her, and the jungle was littered with tigers, panthers and giant, raging gorillas. She took up a job with a relative of Hemet Nesingwary – a _very_ famous and successful hunter – taking care of the cats and some raptors in order to prove her worth as a hunter. She finished the jobs – first with the young animals, as even killing thirty of them made no dent in the population, and then the adults – before she headed south, following the river. There were crocolisks in the water and on the shores, though, so she was eventually forced back along the paths in the jungle.

She met up with Lursune in the small goblin town of Booty Bay, after managing to avoid more of the panthers and tigers, hostile fighters near an arena, a bounty of trolls and a horde scout that was so strong she wouldn't be able to kill her even _with_ Crone. It was dangerous going, and Alpea was edgy the entire way. She wasn't even sure where she was going until she saw a sign pointing toward a cavity of a boat that led into a mountain side; she followed it out of curiosity, and found the town by mistake.

Booty Bay was a neutral town; both Horde and Alliance were welcome here, so long as they remained nice to each other while they were there. She'd heard tales of higher ranks – Horde and Alliance alike – going to this town and killing off the goblin guards and younger fighters, only to be harassed and chased out of town. It was the first town Alpea had been to where everyone was welcomed and fighting the other faction was not tolerated.

She did not like it. Not at all.

Sure, the town was nice, but Alpea did not like the idea of being in the same town as anyone from the Horde. She did not trust them, not even in a neutral town like this, and was always tempted to attack _someone_. It seemed that Crone felt the same; he was always tense, growling when a Troll or Tauren passed by them (she was actually surprised to see more Tauren than Trolls – yes, Tauren lived a boat ride away, for the most part, but this jungle used to be home to _scores_ of Trolls).

She didn't stay long. As soon as she and the paladin were together again, they left on the boat to Ratchet, another neutral goblin town in the eastern part of The Barrens of Kalimdor. The town of Ratchet was set on the shores of a mountainous, desert-like plain, all dried grass and parched trees. The only creatures that survived here were the grass-eating plains gazelles, Zhevras and giraffes and the lions and raptors that fed on them. Alpea was not worried about them; even in numbers, she and Lursune were far stronger than them. What _did_ worry here were the rumors of creatures that looked like a mix of rhinoceros and Kodo that spanned the southern reaches of the zone. There were rare, but supposedly moved in herds of five or more; and when one was attacked, all helped to protect him.

This was not a comfortable place to be, either, aside from the creatures; Alpea made herself plain in that matter. This was a town that was centered in Horde territory: to the north, where the Trolls and Orcs began their jobs in the Valley of Trials, and the Horde's largest city, Orgrimmar. To the west, the city of Thunder Bluff, haven for and capitol city of the Tauren.

"Let's get out of here," the elf said, holding fast to the ruff of Crone's withers. She was sure to look behind them and keep Crone as aggressive as possible. Even Lursune, as strong as he was, was on his toes and alert.

"We will," the draenei said. "We're going to find the road that goes south and head to Dustwallow Marsh. There's a port city there... Theramore Isle, I think. It's like a sub-city to Stormwind. Jaina Proudmoore lives there," he added. Alpea agreed right away; if it had humans, especially someone like Jaina Proudmoore, it would be a great place to increase her reputation with the city of Stormwind even more. She let go of Crone and summoned her saber while they talked. Lursune followed her example and summoned his mount.

And they headed south.

Dustwallow Marsh was... eerie, to say the least. Little sunlight passed through its trees' canopies, casting a sickly green light into the marsh, and the roads were heavy with the giant spiders and six-legged crocolisks Alpea had still not gotten used to. More than once, they were chased on their way south by the creatures, and hit; the elf was thankful that neither of them was knocked off their mount – to fall meant to fight the creature attacking them, and that wasted both energy and time. Alpea glanced around them as they rode to the port, catching glimpses of creatures watching them, other travelers – though they were few – and more than a few ghouls and spirits haunting the bayou beyond the relative safety of the road. It was still humid here, too, although less so than in the jungles; Alpea was grateful.

But regardless, she still preferred the forests of northern Kalimdor.

The ride to the port was not as long as she thought it would have been. It took only an hour or so of riding before they were passed the wall of the small town and into the human military's harbor. The few buildings here were all made of stone, the better protected against invasion, with wooden doors and thatched roofs. It looked to be all business here; the town hall, a blacksmith and a few buildings that looked to hold specialty stores or places to learn and train certain trades like blacksmithing and mining. Alpea could not see one thing that would help them to find work here; she was fine with her professions as they were, and there didn't seem to be a place to train hunters, or even paladins, for that matter. But still, she followed Lursune toward the docks on the other end of the port. He guided her to a young human female clad in armor, standing beside one of the taller of the port's buildings, apart from her fellow soldiers. Lursune introduced them to each other before asking what work had to be done.

The woman gave them a laundry list of chores to do.

It was one of the few times Alpea had seen the draenei become irate, outside of battle. The woman held her ground against him, though, standing taller and grasping the sword at her hip, drawing the attention of a pair of soldiers not far away. Alpea was envious; she did not think she would be bold enough to stand against a paladin in battle. Lursune gradually backed down – this was not the time or place to be picking fights with the human militia – and, as calmly as he could in this mood, asked why they were given such pitiful tasks, when he had been promised something more important than slaying a few young threshers and murlocs.

The woman explained, very plainly, that it was an issue of trust. She could not be sure that the task she needed them to fulfill would not come back at her for treason. So she would give them smaller tasks until she was sure she had their trust and faith, before they were given the great task she promised Lursune. That was fine with Alpea; more jobs meant more money, and a better reputation among the humans of Stormwind. Lursune was not as easily placated, but he agreed to do the tasks nonetheless.

Alpea loved the work they did. It was great for increasing her reputation, and it gave her an opportunity to collect more meat and hides that she could turn in for gold (even after splitting the leather with Lursune, they made good money). Crone enjoyed the work, too, which was another upside to the job; it would keep him happy, and she would not need to feed him as often.

The work gradually led them to clearing a ship of Defias disguised as workmen under Stormwind's rule. It was slow going; they were ordered to kill the captain, but the sailors were sharp watchers, and they could not get below deck without killing everyone in sight first, and then killing everyone else who got in their way of the captain. They eventually made it, but Crone was injured badly on the way; she had to use the healing spell she was taught as a fledgling because his wound was taking so long to mend.

In time, the human soldier gave them the assignment they had been waiting for: there was a rebel faction in the port – a group that was _not_ the Defias – that was planning to overthrow them all. This woman had discovered their plans and needed someone – Lursune was the first capable person she found – to make their plans public. She knew of fifteen that were planning to usurp Jaina Proudmoore; she needed them to expose ten at the least, engaging them in conversation and then interrogating them on their plans and the reason behind them. Alpea and Lursune agreed in a heartbeat; they would split up and share the work, and report back to the woman when they were done.

"Though be wary, soldiers," the woman advised, "These men and women will not surrender easily. I would not be surprised if you were attacked by these _soldiers_," She spit the word, wiping her chin afterward to emphasize her distaste at the idea of a rebellion among her troops.

Once they were away, Alpea worried privately to the paladin. She was not a melee fighter – hunters are not built to handle combat at close range – and she doubted her ability to handle a fight with a foot soldier.

"Don't worry," he told her. "If they want a fight, send Crone before you. Let him pull them in and hold their attention, and then start firing. If you're really in trouble, use one of your traps to keep him still, or slow him down, and run. Crone will still go after him, but he'll be delayed. You'll be fine, even if they do chase you; they'll stop eventually." And, with that, the paladin left them to expose the traitors.


End file.
